Windows 7 kills 2nd Installation, no matter what I do

Prickly · 22 Apr 2016

Hello All

I have a Dell E5410 Latitude and had 5 win7 installations earlier.

Later, only 2 installs behaved as windows (on rest, windows refused to accept as a valid OS).

I removed data and formatted the disk using linux. Later installed Windows 7 and it works good still.

Problem is, when I install another win7 in a different partition (Primary), it installs fully. But on rebooting goes to the Startup Repair loop.

Tried almost 11 times, then deleted partitions, resized them and again tried installing.

******
In earlier installs I found windows update did download, while restarting installed upto 30% and then failed to boot.

In the last install, I turned off the Automatic Update from control panel and from services also. 2-3 times it rebooted well, but when tried this morning, again the same startup problem.

What should I suspect and how to go about it? Any ideas? Thanks

ThrashZone · 22 Apr 2016

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Not sure why you would need multiple win-7 installs on a single machine
Are you using the same activation key ?

I have read some people having secure boot violation errors on some asus mother boards installing with a 100mb efi system reserved partition installed

I personally would exclude recommended updates from installing with real important updates by going to update setting and Unchecking the the option "Give me recommended updates the same way as Important updates" and try again.

You can also review this for some tips,
Reinstalled twice, but Windows still won't update

Prickly · 22 Apr 2016

Hello @ThrashZone

Thanks for the reply.

Actually, I used to have all windows: server/xp/7/vista/64bit 7. Call it my habit or need, I used to have different antivirus on all, and some apps ran better on others. Now my son needs gaming so 64bit is also needed.

I used the pre-activated installs, and I was pretty successful since August when I purchased this laptop. Same installs worked perfectly, when windows refused to accept itself as valid install. Also, last month it got the ransomware-virus forcing me to format my disk. (By that time I also had windows 10).

The last time I installed the wifi driver from Dell, and nothing else. It ran smoothly for couple of hours and 2-3 reboots. But in morning it again ran into startup errors.

I have read some people having secure boot violation errors on some asus mother boards installing with a 100mb efi system reserved partition installed

Maybe, but I wonder how it allowed till a month ago? I thought this may be a hard disk error or something, but the first install works perfectly well (I am using it right now)

I personally would exclude recommended updates from installing with real important updates by going to update setting and Unchecking the the option "Give me recommended updates the same way as Important updates" and try again.

I just choose basics like windows defender, win7 sp1, broadcomm wifi driver, totalling 147 Mb and nothing more. Then I turned everything off! Now when it gets startup problems, I can't take benefit from the tips from the link you gave.

BTW, is the 100Mb secret partition be the offending part?

ANY OTHER IDEAS?

ThrashZone · 22 Apr 2016

Hi,
Yes in a way the 100mb partition if it says efi instead of ntfs might be an issue indeed because you have a uefi compatible win-7 install meaning secure boot is trying to be used which win-7 is not compatible with,
As far as I'm aware of this applies only to 7 pro or ultimate versions which can use bitlocker
This update is for bitlocker on a domain which to me are both useless
I'm nor on a domain and never intend on using bitlocker so I did not install it :)

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...mus-VII-Ranger

But ultimately a Recommended windows update
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3133977
Has been causing secure boot errors and boot errors in general with different error codes
Pretty much why I said I or anyone should avoid recommended updates unless you first research them and they address a issue you... might be having.

Prickly · 22 Apr 2016

Hmmm Never thought about the flash-drive install. Will try the DVD today and see whether it makes a difference. Thanks

ThrashZone · 22 Apr 2016

Hi,
Not sure it will do much different
The first install might not create the 100mb partition but the second install will because you would be creating a second partition to install it on
Or you might of made 2 partitions before the first install so the 100mb partition would be created from the first install

Most people would if they needed 2 separate installs would do so on completely different hard drives
After the first install is complete with no other partitions remove the hard drive and install the other hard drive and install the os on it.

This way both installs a separate boot files on the os
And you can use them separately booting to one or the other using F8 or which ever key gives you the boot options could be Delete key to at startup.

Personally I use one of these to swap out ssd's
it's great :)
Amazon.com: Vantec 2.5-Inch Dual Bay Trayless SATA III - 6G Mobile Rack (MRK-225S6-BK): Computers & Accessories

Prickly · 22 Apr 2016

You were right. It made no difference.

I just wonder, how earlier I could install 5 different win7s without problem and why not now? The installation media remains the same: flash drive.

ThrashZone · 22 Apr 2016

Hi,
Not sure did you disable secure boot or switch the os type to other os ?

Basically did this update load again ?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3133977

Prickly · 23 Apr 2016

Not sure did you disable secure boot or switch the os type to other os ?

Not sure I understand what you mean by secure boot. I just renamed the EFI folder to old-EFI and installed another 64 bit win7.

I installed it last night and have turned off all updates. Will see if it boots today

wasnotwas · 23 Apr 2016

Prickly said:

I used the pre-activated installs

I only know one type of pre-activated Windows . . .